Refusing equal value of lives yields state terrorism and philosopher-executioners

Evidence

According to this view of military morality, to kill while exposing one’s own life is bad; to take lives without ever endangering one’s own is good. That first principle of drone necroethics is, paradoxically, vitalist. And it is in accordance with this logic that the drone can be said to be a “humanitarian” weapon: the humanitarian imperative is to save lives. And the drone does indeed save our lives. It is therefore a humanitarian technology. QED. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 453 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

As Camus predicted, “Other men to come consumed with the same devouring faith as these, will find their methods sentimental and refuse to admit that any one life is the equivalent of another.” And he went on to warn that then would come “the time of philosopher-executioners and of state terrorism.” — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 510 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Zero-risk warfare implies radical inequality in the value of lives; Camus foresaw an era of state terrorism that denies equal life value — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 510; Drone warfare adopts assassination ethics while refusing assassination’s self-sacrifice (+6 more)

Related

• Camus foresaw an era of state terrorism that denies equal life value (similarity 0.88)
• Zero-risk warfare implies radical inequality in the value of lives (similarity 0.86)
• The drone state aims to replace mobilized citizen bodies with mechanical agents. (similarity 0.82)
• Combat indifference to killing spread to accept civilian deaths by mistake (similarity 0.82)
• Drone morality inverts ethics to make unendangered killing good (similarity 0.82)
• Drones are morally justified by preventing one’s own casualties (similarity 0.80)
• Drones’ necroethics embody a nationalism of self-preservation (similarity 0.80)
• Drone warfare adopts assassination ethics while refusing assassination’s self-sacrifice (similarity 0.80)
• Drone warfare deactivates the democratic critique rooted in exposable lives (similarity 0.80)
• Remote killing free from retaliation creates a moral hazard problem (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Camus foresaw an era of state terrorism that denies equal life value #corroborates (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 510
• Drone morality inverts ethics to make unendangered killing good #exemplifies (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 453
• Drone warfare adopts assassination ethics while refusing assassination’s self-sacrifice #exemplifies (0.70)
• Intelligence and philosophy have justified extermination as well as equality #expands (0.65) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 107
• Human reasoning creates a paradox regarding the value of life. #expands (0.60) — Leo Tolstoy, A Confession, 104
• Religious framing of terrorism justifies state expansion that erodes due process #exemplifies (0.60)